The Trip of a Lifetime

In June 2006, Tina and I traveled to La Paz on the Sea of Cortez to spend a week on a wooden topsail schooner called Talofa. Another couple who are good friends of ours also joined us for this six day charter. Talofa's keel was laid in 1928 and was built for a specific purpose: to recover copper ingots from a sunken ship in the south Pacific. She never fulfilled that goal but she's still in service and doing well. With the four passengers and a crew of four we sailed to various anchorages near the island Espiritu Santo (see map). In short, it was the trip of a lifetime. Great food, great crew and great friends. Here are some links to their web site:

http://www.bajaschoonercruises.com/about.html
http://www.talofatallship.com/.

The Sea of Cortez is named after the infamous Spanish explorer and was at first thought to be an island. Although the land is rather barren, the sea life is incredible.

baja map
Here Is a Map Showing the Cruising Area We Sailed with the Talofa
.
La Paz Map
Here Is A Closeup. La Paz Is The Capital Of Baja Sur And The Home Of Talofa.

Photos

 Here are some photos of our trip. The photos are all compressed so hopefully you should be able to see them even with a dial-up connection:

San Jose Del Cabo Airport
Arrive at the La Paz Marina. That's Betsy, One of the Owners, On the Left.
Talofa at the Dock
Meeting Talofa at the Pier in La Paz

Leaving La Paz
Leaving La Paz
Talofa schooner 0012
View of Talofa from the Quarter Deck
Our Friends Scott and Katie
Our Friends Scott and Katie
Dan with sail in background
Dan
Sails up from quarterdeck
View from Stern with Sails Raised. The Aft Most Sail is the Main. The Next One Forward (lower) is the Course. The One Just Barely Visible Above the Course is the Rafigie Sail (I probably spelled it wrong).
kayak on davets
Captain Beau, Dan and Katie
state room skylight
Note the Hot Tub on Deck. The Skylight is Above the Galley
Swimming with the Dog
Beau and Oso, the Ship's Mascot, Swimming
Skyrat Island
"Skyrat" Island. Our Own Name for a Seagull Infested Island. Note the Sugar Coating!
A Rock Island
Another Sugar Coated Rock Island
...and another...
Powder frosting or snow?

Rock Island
There Are a Lot of  These Islands With Shear Faces and Deep Water.
Katie
Katie
Island
This Island is Near the North End of Espirito Santo and Was Loaded With Sea Lions!
Sea Loins
More Sea Lions but No Sea Monkeys!
Sea Lions
The Males are the Big Ones.
Sea Lions on Island
More Sugar Frosted Coating Courtesy of the "Dumpster Ducks."
Sea Lion Swimming
A Sea Lion Checking Us Out. Probably Taken from a Kayak. Note the Large Brain Indicating He's a Male.
female sea lion sunning
A Female Sunbathing.
bird
Booby Bird 
Sea lions
 Sea Lion just below the surface on Tina's right.
birds above the mast
Frigate Birds. These Birds Steal from Other Birds and Can Only Take Off from High Locations.
hot tub
Who Ever Heard of a Hot Tub on the Deck of a Schooner! Here's Dan and Tina. Note Dan's Favorite Beverage on the Left. Looks Like a Pacifica.
hot tub
Looks Like Things are Getting Hotter! What's Going On Behind That Hat?
salon skylight
Looking Up From the Salon At the Skylight.
blow fish
Tina Caught a Blow Fish. Obviously He's Not Happy.
deflated blow fish
Deflated Blow Fish. Does That Mean He's Happy?
batray
A Bat Ray, they fly out of the water and do somersaults to get rid of parasites & just for fun.
spaniel
Oso.
r
Another Ray?
fish skeleton
We Named this Unfortunate Fish: "Skeletor!"
stay sail
The Foresail and Forestaysail
a
Tina Has Her Sea Legs.
Dan on ratlines
Climbing the Ratlines to hang the D-cup.
Mexican Flag
Sweet. Vote for Pedro!
jib sail
The jibsail and Who's That Babe!
a
This Shot is Taken from the Brace Which is the Spar on the Course Sail.
Talofa port side
Talofa With a Furled Course Sail.
Talofa Head On
Ramming Speed!
Talofa
Talofa.....Talofa Lava.
Talofa Starboard Side
Talofa Starboard Side.
Talofa
 On A Broad Reach.
Talofa
Someone's In the Rigging.
Spirito Santo
View of Talofa From a Beach On Espirito Santo. Ice cream anyone?
Talofa
Closer View
Dan
Hi, I'm Gilligan. "Skipper!..."
The Orange Cylinder On the Left Has a Rod Going Through It and Is Thrown Overboard In Case of "Man Overboard." It's Attached to the Life Ring And Has a Flag On the Top of the Rod So It's Easy to See In the Water.
Rocks
Espirto Santo Island.
Cave
Dan and Tina In a Nice Cool Cubby Hole.
fig tree
Beau and Tina. I Think Those Are Fig Trees. The roots grow really weird.
a
Looks Like Tina's Ready to Kick Clint Eastwood's Butt. Go ahead, Make My Day!
Babes
Katie and Tina With Sea Lion Island In the Background.
Sea Lion Island
A Sea Lion On the Same Island.
Sea Lion in water
This Is Taken From Our Kayak Near the Island.
Kayak
Dan and Scott.
Tina
Night Time on Espirto Santo's East Side.
Talofa bow
Left to Right; Tina and Katie
brace
Beau and Lianne Furling the Course.
course
Looks Good.
beach
Skeletor II.
fishing village
There Are Several of These Fishing Villages On Espirito Santo. It Was A Ghost Town.
Salon table
Lianne In the Salon In Preparation for the Renewing of Dan and Tina's Vows. The Cover on the table is a Samoan Tapa and is Actually Covering the Dining Table Which is the Cover for the 6 Cylinder, 2-Stroke Diesel Engine.
passage way
Looking Into the Galley from the Salon. Dan and Tina ready to take the plunge again.
renewing vows
Mike (out of photo) Is Reading a Romeo and Juliet Type Samoan Story.
vows salon
The Ceremony Continues.
rings
Dan and Tina Exchanging Smiley Face Rings (You Had to Be There).
vows
From Left to Right: Mike, Lianne, Beau, Linda, Tina, Dan. Lianne, Beau and Linda Are Singing A Samoan Song.
wedding gift
A Wedding Gift from Mike and Linda: a Samoan Tapa which is tree bark hand-pounded till it looks and feels like paper, then it is painted with fruit dye and given to the 'newlyweds' for good health and posterity.
Dan
The "Bald Baby."
Scott
Scott, "jib the jibe!"
hoisting haylard
Scott Hoisting the Mainsail.
s
It Needs to Be Tighter.
a
The sun's reflection off Scott's bald head.
spaniel
A Salty Dog coming around to inspect our work. No hankage here.
raise jib
Preparing to Raise the Jib.
Tina at helm
Tina At the Helm. Watch out women driver!!
Dan at helm
Dan At the Helm pushing the Envelope, again.
Dan and Tina at Helm
Dan and Tina.
sunset
We Were Hoping to See the "Green Flash" But It Was Not to Be. On the other hand, a Cross will do.
Linda
I'm Not Sure What We're Looking At But It Must Be Interesting.
Dan on mast
Dan Up In the Rigging.
Full moon in rigging
Reaching for the moon?
Sea lions
Dolphins off port bow.
Rest, relax
Resting, relaxing and feeding thyself.
Fresh catch
Fresh is always best.
Dighy ride
All but two went ashore.
Salon
Looks like we are really roughin' it, huh?
Land ho
Cast ashore and hung out to dry.
Watering hole
Fresh water found at about 10 feet. Fresh Water is Hard to Find On the Baja.
Caves
The power of water and time.
Dan at helm
Man, what a big wheel you have!!!
Capt who?
Doing the "Lone Hand", I am.
Capt Nemo
Captain Nemo or alien from the deep?
Two aloft
Hope he doesn't throw it on deck.
Good bye
Time to say good bye.

We hope you enjoyed us sharing our memories with you. Just be thankful Tina didn't put all 963 pictures or the 40-50 mini videos our digital camera takes on this site. We had an incredible time and would do it again. Talofa Lava everyone!

Our Main Web Site: http://www.rapidnet.com/~dt2000/
If you would like to email comments: baldbaby2000@yahoo.com